I made a new year’s resolution to blog every week – but 18 days have gone by and I haven’t written once.
It’s not for lack of material, It’s been an eventful three weeks. As well as trips to London and Surrey, walks in Devon (and my first ever sight of cattle egrets), there has been a lot going on in the world of onshore oil, which has meant much reading of reports, drafting of submissions, writing articles for websites, not to mention emails. With all that filling my spare time, I lost the will to write anything I didn’t have to.
But I don’t want to give up on my resolution so soon. In order not to let more time pass unblogged, I cast my eyes round for something to write about. They fell on the cards on my mantelpiece. Blogging about those will give me some practice creating photo galleries too, so here goes.
I’m not a huge fan of Christmas and all its commercial trappings. But I have always loved Christmas cards. Texts and WhatsApps are all very well, but there’s nothing like familiar handwriting on an envelope. It’s so nice to hear from old friends and family members, some I only hear from once a year. One friend I haven’t seen since 1986 sends a home-made card and a newsy, witty update every year and I look forward to hearing about the latest doings of his grown-up children whom I have never met. This year, a card from a cousin contained a laconic message: ‘Got married a few weeks ago’.
When I tidied the Christmas stuff away I kept out three cards I liked too much to consign to a drawer. My birthday followed shortly after with another flurry of cards through the letterbox. Here are my carefully considered favourite three of each, plus two bonus handmade ones (click on the photos to see a bigger version). These can stay out all year.
Christmas top three
There’s nothing Christmassy about these three, but they all feature snow. Apple trees in snow was from my friend C who has a solid track record of always sending the nicest cards. Till I photographed it just now I hadn’t noticed it was by Stanley Spencer, though he’s one of my favourite artists. Its purchase supported the Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham, a place I’d love to visit.
The redwing looks a bit robin-shaped to me, they look thinner in real life. I used to see redwings regularly when I lived in Surrey, but not so many seem to make it as far as Devon. So I was glad to see a large flock on a walk near Buckfastleigh last week.
Handmade cards
I was particularly delighted to receive some handmade cards. Here are two of them, one double sided.
Thank you to Philippa Martin and Jo Salter for these lovely things.
Birthday top three
The dull photos don’t do justice to the beautiful paintings. And I am embarrassed by the wonkily aligned photos. I did indeed learn something about how (not) to create photo galleries.
So there you go, two birds, two winter landscapes and two sea scenes. I love them and they give me a spark of joy each time I see them. Thank you to the people that sent me these cards. And thank you to people who sent me cards that aren’t featured here, I was delighted by every one.